The way the Clippers' 6-foot-1 guard has covered the Warriors' 6-9 forward has garnered a lot of attention through two games of their Western Conference first-round series.

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The Warriors’ Kevin Durant is defended by the Clippers’ Patrick Beverley during Game 2 of their first-round Western Conference playoff series on Monday night in Oakland. Durant is averaging 22 per game in the series but Beverley and the Clippers are making him work hard for his baskets. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

PLAYA VISTA — The game within the games that has stirred the most intrigue during this first-round playoff series is the one pitting Patrick Beverley, the Clippers’ defensive dynamo, against Kevin Durant, the Golden State Warriors’ superstar scorer.

In recent days, Durant has sought to remind reporters covering the series – which heads to Staples Center for Game 3 on Thursday tied at a game apiece – that Clippers vs. Warriors isn’t him vs. Beverley. And Beverley has asserted that his demonstrative, aggressive defense is just him doing what he always does.

Still, the matchup between the Clippers’ 6-foot-1 guard and the Warriors’ 6-9 forward is proving a juicy subplot, especially because both players were ejected in the fourth quarter of Game 1 after being assessed two technical fouls apiece then both fouled out of Game 2.

On Wednesday, Durant offered reporters in Oakland his professional assessment of the matchup: “… when I get the ball in my spots, I got a pest, Patrick Beverley, who is up underneath me, who I could definitely shoot over top (of) and score every time if it was a one-on-one situation, but we got a guy who’s dropping and helping, and then another guy who’s sitting on me waiting for me to dribble the basketball.

“If I put the basketball on the floor, I can probably make 43 percent of my shots, but that’s not really gonna do nothing for us with the outcome of the game. We got a nice flow, everyone’s touching the rock, everybody shooting and scoring, so I’m not gonna get in the way of the game because I want to have a little back-and-forth with Patrick Beverley, I’m Kevin Durant.

“In this series, it’s kind of weird,” Durant continued. “When a guy’s that small, you got the advantage, but listen, we’ve heard ‘David and Goliath’ a lot growing up. That story is pretty prominent in people’s minds. So when you put that out on the court against me, then the refs are gonna (allow) him a little bit more

“So when he runs up like a pitbull, grabs me, holds me, I don’t mind it; that’s how he make his money, that’s how he feeds his family. But if I throw something back, then let us play, you get what I’m saying? … I’m just trying to figure out each possession how I can be more effective without getting offensive fouls.”

Kevin Durant goes extremely in depth on the Clippers style of defense, the overhelp, why he won’t get caught up in a 1-on-1 battle with Patrick Beverley pic.twitter.com/nOdmTDY4yi

In Playa Vista, Beverley told reporters he asked to guard Durant, downplaying his success so far by pointing out that his primary assignment is averaging a healthy number of points (22) in the first two contests.

But, Beverley said, from where he stands, the height difference gives him the advantage: “I think it works in my favor. His center base is probably where my shoulder starts, so I’m fortunate to have a strong baseline and try to take away his legs from him.”

And, again, he insisted his intent is not to rattle Durant.

“I don’t try to get into anybody’s (head), I just try to go out and be me. If people get frustrated, then it’s their fault, not mine,” Beverley said.

The goal, he added, simply is to “try to be as physical as possible within the lines and within the rules, and set the tone that way.”

It helps, he said, that the Clippers’ reputation proceeds them.

“The best thing about our team is we have a reputation of playing hard,” Beverley said. “You play hard, you might foul sometimes, but refs are not gonna call every foul – and that’s both ways.

“But,” he continued, “I got ejected the first game and fouled out the second game, so I haven’t even played a full game yet. Let’s try to play a full game first.”

THE COMEBACK

With another game bearing down on them, the Clippers might be trying to put Monday’s historic rally behind them.

But basketball fans would be forgiven for continuing to marvel at the feat: The 31-point comeback at Oracle Arena was not only the largest in NBA playoff history, but the largest comeback of any kind in Clippers history and the third-largest in any NBA game since at least 1996.

Mirjam Swanson covers the Clippers, the NBA and the LA Sparks for the Southern California News Group. Previously, she wrote about LeBron James and the rest of the Dream Team at the 2004 Olympics (where, yes, they took bronze), Tiger Woods winning the U.S. Open on one leg, and had a tour reporting on city government, education and the occasional bear in a backyard.

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